Easter Sunday
Monday, April 2, 2012
Saturday,
April 7, 2012 ~ Holy Saturday
What to read for
today.
Chapter 39:The General Dance
Questions for your
personal reflection.
As you complete this reading study, are there any ways that
it gave you insight into “His call and His mysterious, cosmic dance”?
Look back
at your initial hopes and reservations. To what extent were these fulfilled?
Sharing with others:
What caught your attention or provoked your thinking today?
I still
remain confused about Merton’s conception of God. Even though Merton concedes
that Scripture is poetry as opposed to literal history, his God is still doing
things like making humans, revealing himself, confronting people, and living
out dogma by becoming human. I continue
to wrestle with Merton’s insistence that God is a Who, a Person. And yet, when
Merton writes of the “cosmic dance” I am right there with him. I get that we are in the midst of it
and that it permeates everything. And I couldn’t agree more when Merton says we
are invited to forget ourselves, cast solemnity to the winds and join in the
general dance.
Posted by Genevieve
Friday,
April 6, 2012 ~ Good Friday
What to read for
today.
Chapter 38:Pure Love
Questions for your
personal reflection.
What sense do you make of this chapter? Does it contribute to your
understanding or experience of “God”, “contemplation” or “the interior life”?
Sharing with others:
What caught your attention or provoked your thinking today?
Merton seemed to roam all over the place, sometimes speaking
with clarity, sometimes doubling back on himself or contradicting what he had
just written. Perhaps he was using
the chapter to clarify his own confused thinking. Or maybe words simply could not capture what he wanted to
convey.
One thing that did ring true was Merton’s observation that
people seem alienated from their inner selves and are “turned, spiritually,
inside out”. In other words, we
confuse the image we want the outer world to see with the person we are really
intended to be. As far as Merton is concerned this is the Fall of Man described
in Genesis. I think that Joni
Mitchell’s Woodstock lyrics convey the same sentiment:
We are stardust
Billion year old carbon
We are golden
Caught in the devil's bargain
And we've got to get ourselves
back to
the garden.
Posted by Genevieve
Thursday,
April 5, 2012 ~ Holy Thursday
What to read for
today.
Chapter 37:Sharing The Fruits of Contemplation
Questions for your
personal reflection.
Have you tried to engage others in this Lenten discipline as
you have carried it out? How? With
what results?
Sharing with others:
What caught your attention or provoked your thinking today?
As I re-read this chapter I was filled with horror at the
thought that this Lenten reading study might be an exercise in preaching at
people. “The contemplative who
tries to preach contemplation before he himself really knows what it is, will
prevent both himself and others from finding the true path to God’s peace.” I certainly don’t want to be that
person.
I accept Merton’s observation that spiritual experiences defy
words and cannot be communicated and that even if they can, many people are not
interested in the interior life.
Even so, I think it is worth wrestling with words and offering one’s
thoughts to others. This is how I clarify ideas and
experiences and what prompts growth.
Posted by Genevieve
Wednesday,
April 4, 2012
What to read for
today.
Chapter 36:Inward Destitution
Questions for your
personal reflection.
Do you share Merton’s view that “when we accept what we are
and what we are not, we begin to realize that this great poverty is our
greatest fortune”? If so, in what
way do you see this as fortunate for your interior life?
Sharing with others:
What caught your attention or provoked your thinking today?
When I read this chapter I couldn’t help thinking about the character
called “Lowly Worm” in Richard Scary’s children’s books. Merton’s view of humanity can sometimes
be depressingly negative and, as others have observed, he descends into a rant.
So I am beginning to rebel
or resist. Do I have to accept a
worm-like status to address my own egotism or pursue a path of integrity? Is it really necessary to become
nothing in order to be the something contained in my true identity?
How I wish Merton had lived beyond 1968 because I
would so much like to have followed his thinking, especially after his trip to
Asia and his intended residence with a Sufi mystic in Iran.
Posted by Genevieve
Tuesday,
April 3, 2012
What to read for
today.
Chapter 35:Renunciation
Questions for your
personal reflection.
What would today be like if, just for today, you refrained
from “directing those you have not been appointed to direct, reforming those
you have not been asked to reform, correcting those over whom you have no
jurisdiction”?
Sharing with others:
What caught your attention or provoked your thinking today?
One of the themes in this chapter is humility and false
humility. One can be humble
performing physical tasks like gardening or cooking. But one can be equally
humble by using one’s intellectual powers. The thing to watch out for is vanity. Merton urges us not to claim ownership
of our capabilities but to simply accept them and then to cheerfully carry out life’s
duties.
A related point is to stick to your own knitting,
meaning to spend time improving yourself and stop trying to reform everyone
else.
Posted by Genevieve
Monday,
April 2, 2012
What to read for
today.
Chapter 34:The Wrong Flame
Questions for your
personal reflection.
To what extent is sentimentality, “sensible intoxication” or
“the stimulus of emotion” necessary to your spiritual life?
Sharing with others:
What caught your attention or provoked your thinking today?
I was brought up in a devout, religious family where
sentimentality and acts of piety were confused with holiness. We preferred a
warm interior glow to an encounter with a real human being. I now see that this is a form of
spiritual immaturity. I am
grateful to Merton and others who have helped me see that “holy feelings” have
no essential connection to sanctity and are only momentary “illusions” of
holiness.
Posted by Genevieve
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Thomas Merton- New Seeds of Contemplation
Thomas Merton - Seeds of Contemplation Available from Samantha - $18
From the publisher:
If you read nothing else by Merton, read this. Personal, direct, and lucid, it contains some of his most challenging insights into the struggle to find an honest relationship with God and one’s fellow humans.
The book takes a compelling yet thoughtful look at a wide variety of spiritual themes, but is — like most of Merton’s writings — devoid of theorizing. A must for anyone who is ready to seriously reassess the reality and direction of his or her life. But beware: you will not emerge untouched.
HOW TO VIEW or ENTER COMMENTS ON THE BLOG
- Click on the word "COMMENTS" in the line immediately below any day's entry to see replies and/or post a comment.
- Under the Post a Comment" heading, enter text in the box. Anyone may post.
- Sign in. To sign in without registering, click down on the box to the right of "Comment as..." hold down, and scroll to select "anonymous" (last item on the list).
- Then click the "Publish" button.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Saturday,
March 31, 2012
What to read for
today.
Chapter 33:Journey Through the Wilderness
Questions for your
personal reflection.
Was there anything in today’s chapter that you “held and
savored”?
Sharing with others:
What caught your attention or provoked your thinking today?
This was a hard chapter for me to understand. I thought that Merton was trying to
show that there are many routes to contemplation, including sweeping the floor
or doing laundry. We don’t have to
do formal mediation. We can read books, look at sacred objects, or be in the
presence of nature. What matters
is our state of mind, “a habitual, comforting, obscure and mysterious awareness
of God, present and acting in all the events of life”. To me this is what the
Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hahn calls mindfulness. It is available to everyone.
Posted by Genevieve
Friday,
March 30, 2012
What to read for
today.
Chapter 32:The Night of the Senses
Questions for your
personal reflection.
Can you relate to the “dark and frustrated condition” and
the obscurity that Merton refers to in this chapter? If so, how did you
interpret your condition at the time?
Sharing with others:
What caught your attention or provoked your thinking today?
From the outset, Merton insisted that finding one’s true
identity was a painful process that had no predictable destination. He said that you had to have faith to
do this and I couldn’t relate to that word. Now I think that “faith” might be the appropriate word for our
willingness to enter this process and stick with it even though we don’t know
the outcome. Come to think of it,
we enter many other relationships on faith such as marriage, parenthood and jobs.
Posted by Genevieve
Thursday,
March 29, 2012
What to read for
today.
Chapter 31:The Gift of Understanding
Questions for your
personal reflection.
Has Merton prompted a “new level of awareness” for you this
Lent?
Sharing with others:
What caught your attention or provoked your thinking today?
This Lent I have been “doing” a lot of Merton. Books by,
about and inspired by him. This is
gradually opening up an awareness of blind spots that were not apparent to me
before. I attribute this to
Merton’s persistent cautions against egotism. I find it particularly intriguing
to reflect on his suggestion that our wills and ego get in the way of
discovering our true identity. For many of us that may be counter-cultural and
counter-intuitive but it is still well worth thinking about.
Posted by Genevieve
Wednesday,
March 28, 2012
What to read for
today.
Chapter 30:Distraction
Questions for your
personal reflection.
What experience do you have of the composure and state of
attention that Merton describes?
Sharing with others:
What caught your attention or provoked your thinking today?
My sense is that I have more daily distractions than Merton
did inside the monastery, especially after he got permission to live as a hermit. His attitude seems to be that it is up
to me to do something about that. For
example, he ends the chapter by saying that if our job pressures distract us
when we try to be still, then maybe we are over-invested in our jobs and should
start to change that. I think he is saying that you
can’t have your cake and eat it too: if you expose yourself to lots of external
pressures, you can’t just expect to tune them out when you decide you’d like
some solitude. More tough
medicine.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
What to read for today.
Chapter 29: Mental Prayer
Questions for your personal reflection.
Did this chapter shed any light on what you are experiencing as you practice this Lenten discipline?
Sharing with others: What caught your attention or provoked your thinking today?
I thought that Merton was gently poking fun at meditation books, including New Seeds of Contemplation. He was cautioning us not to try to replicate what people write about and to have our own spiritual experiences. The less appealing message was that these experiences must involve suffering, darkness, pain, anguish. This sheds light on or expands what Merton said in Chapter 28, that we shouldn’t get too attached to the pleasurable aspects of our interior life because there is more to it than that.
Posted by Genevieve
Monday, March 26, 2012
Chapter 28: Detachment
Sharing with others: What caught your attention or provoked your thinking today?
This chapter made me think back to what people said they were giving up for Lent – chocolate, caffeine, swearing, Face Book. As always, Merton takes us further. He says that our more subtle attachments are harder to recognize, such as attachments to “interior peace” or even to prayer. Could that be attachment to particular prayers, or forms of worship or favourite hymns? I hadn’t thought much about that before but now I am going to pay attention to what kind of attachments I might be carrying around and how they might impact others.
Posted by Genevieve
What to read for today.
Chapter 28: Detachment
Questions for your personal reflection.
Do you have any attachment to spiritual things? How would your spiritual community benefit if you were to let go of such an attachment?
Sharing with others: What caught your attention or provoked your thinking today?
This chapter made me think back to what people said they were giving up for Lent – chocolate, caffeine, swearing, Face Book. As always, Merton takes us further. He says that our more subtle attachments are harder to recognize, such as attachments to “interior peace” or even to prayer. Could that be attachment to particular prayers, or forms of worship or favourite hymns? I hadn’t thought much about that before but now I am going to pay attention to what kind of attachments I might be carrying around and how they might impact others.
Posted by Genevieve
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Saturday, March 24, 2012
What to read for today.
Chapter 27:What Is Liberty?
Questions for your personal reflection.
Do you have any experience of the kind of liberty that Merton writes about?
Sharing with others: What caught your attention or provoked your thinking today?
The freedom that Merton talks seems familiar. It is like writing a sonnet or a short story. Each literary form imposes certain limitations, but within those forms you can write about anything you like and say whatever you want to say. On a relational level Merton’s freedom also sounds like marriage. One takes on certain obligations, connections, demands and so forth as part of the commitment to another person, while at the same time remaining free to be oneself.
I do not know if Merton would equate these things with “the ability to do the will of God” which is how he defines freedom in this chapter.
Posted by Genevieve
Posted by Genevieve
Friday, March 23, 2012
What to read for today.
Chapter 26:Freedom Under Obedience
Questions for your personal reflection.
What role does obedience play in your spiritual life? Is this a “prudent use” of your freedom?
Sharing with others: What caught your attention or provoked your thinking today?
I am not, and do not aspire to be obedient. Nor do I yearn to be led and advised and directed by someone else. That is why I do not seek ordination to the priesthood and why I am indifferent to the conventional profession in which I am trained. My attitude may have something to do with choice of environment. Merton’s was vertical and hierarchical. He was, after all, a monk in a monastic order. Mine is horizontal with give and take between equals. My personal and business relationships evolve according to circumstances and the people involved. Nevertheless, Merton raises a provocative question: Is this horizontal context just a way to assert my own will and indulge in my own caprices?
Posted by Genevieve
Thursday, March 22, 2012
What to read for today.
Chapter 25:Humility Against Despair
Questions for your personal reflection.
If you stopped living for yourself or on the human level and became humble in the manner suggested by Merton, what difference would that make in your thoughts, words or deeds? What relationships would be most affected? In what way?
Sharing with others: What caught your attention or provoked your thinking today?
Merton makes a good case for true humility, a state where a person can do great things without concern for “incidentals” like self-interest, reputation, or self-respect, a state where a person can graciously accept praise and then give it all away, keeping nothing back. But is this attainable? If it were, surely a person would be in a perpetual state of equanimity. They would be Christ-like or Buddha-like all the time. I do not think I am engaging in despair when I say that this is quite impossible.
Posted by Genevieve
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
What to read for today.
Chapter 23:The Woman Clothed With The Sun
Questions for your personal reflection.
To what extent did you find the ideas in this chapter meaningful and accessible? Was there anything that you found yourself resisting?
Sharing with others: What caught your attention or provoked your thinking today?
Posted by Genevieve
Monday, March 19, 2012
What to read for today.
Chapter 22:Life in Christ
Questions for your personal reflection.
Can you identify anything that you are trying to escape from as a means of evading your own true nature and countenance?
Sharing with others: What caught your attention or provoked your thinking today?
This chapter did not evoke any sense of escape for me. Instead, I was caught by the idea that nothing is more important than one’s interior life and that the only things that matter are ones that support that life. “If I have divine life in me, what do the accidents of pain and pleasure, hope and fear, joy and sorrow matter to me?” And then Merton points out that this divine life gets radiated back out to others so that we benefit each other. I do not think that one has to be a “believer” in Christ or anything else in order to find this compelling.
Posted by Genevieve.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
